Lanus

Origins and foundation

In 1854 Anacarsis Lanús arrived from France and acquired the lands where he would later establish the city of Lanús, one of the biggest suburbs of Greater Buenos Aires. Two institutions were named "Lanús" by that time. One of them was Lanús Athletic Club, which took part of the 1897 Argentine Primera División championship although the club then abandoned the tournament. The other club was Lanús United (predecessor of current Club Atlético Lanús) which participated in the Copa de Competencia, organised by dissident Federación Argentina de Football in 1913 and 1914.

On 3 January 1915, a new club was established from the merging of two institutions, Lanús United (that was in a desperate financial situation) and Club El Progreso. Miguel Usaray was designed as president, the first in the history of the club. In an assemble held on 27 January 1915, the name "Club Atlético Lanús" was officially established.

Debut in Primera: the 1920s

The club began to play its matches in División Intermedia (the second division of Argentine football league system by then) at Lanús United old stadium, located in Margarita Wield and General Deheza streets. In 1919 the club got promotion to the top division, Primera División, after beating Argentino de Quilmes. In the first division, Lanús played its first games in the official association, then switching to dissident Asociación Amateurs de Football (AAmF), where the team joined on 8 August 1920, when the squad was defeated by Racing Club by 1–0. That first season in the top division Lanús finished 11th of 20th.

During successive years, Lanús did not achieve great campaigns in Primera, even finishing last in 1923. That season the squad only achieved two wins and lost 14 games of 20. In 1926 Lanús finished 6th and the 1927 season the team finished 3rd to San Lorenzo and Boca Juniors. Lanús earned 50 points with 22 wins over 33 matches played, being defeated 5 times.

On 24 February 1929 Lanús opened its new stadium in the intersection of Héctor Guidi and General Arias streets. The stadium (with wood stands as it was usual for that time) was built on a 50,000 m2 land given by the British-owned company Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway ("Ferrocarril del Sud". Then president of the club, Silvio Peri, made the arrangements to get the cession did not have any cost for the institution, at least for the first years. On 24 March 1929 Lanús played its first match there facing Platense, defeating it by 5–2.

The '30s and '40s

In 1931 football became professional in Argentina. Lanús did not make a good campaign, finishing penultimate achieving only 22 points, 28 less than champion Boca Juniors. One year later the club inaugurated a new grandstand in its stadium. The first version of the Lanús Anthem, composed by Domingo Ilvento (music) and Daniel Cao (lyrics) was also released.

In 1933 founding member Miguel Iguzguiza made the arrangements to acquire the lands where the new headquarters would be built, on José C. Paz avenue (current 9 de Julio avenue). This was approved in a meeting held on 23 December. One year later the Association obliged both Club Lanús and rival team Talleres de Remedios de Escalada to join in order to play the tournament under the name "Unión Talleres-Lanús", threatening them to be relegated if they did not accept. This fusion was ended in 1935 when both clubs played again separately.

Some of the most notable players of those years were Atilio Ducca (the most capped player in Lanús' history with 291 games). In 1939 forward Luis Arrieta came to the club, scoring 31 goals during his first season with the club. Arrieta was also the top-scorer in 1943 along with Ángel Labruna (River Plate) and Raúl Frutos (Platense). Arrieta would later become the all-time top scorer of Lanús, with 120 goals.

Lanús remained in Primera until 1949 when the team was relegated after a controversial decision from the Association. At the end of the tournament, Boca Juniors was placed last and Lanús penultimate. On 8 December Boca smashed Lanús by 5–1, which finished last along with Huracán. In order to define which team would be relegated, Lanús and Huracán had to play a relegation series. Huracán won the first game 1–0 and Lanús took revenge by 4–1 in the second match so a third game was played. With a partial score of 3–3 the referee awarded a penalty kick to Lanús. The Huracán players, in disagreement with the decision, abandoned the field being the match suspended. The Argentine Association not only did not punished Huracán but it decided to play a new match. During that fourth game the referee did not award a penalty kick to Lanús while Huracán was winning the match by 3–2. As a result, the Lanús players left the field (as their rivals had done before). But the Association decided to punish Lanús relegating the club to Primera B.

Return to Primera

After the controversial decision made by the AFA, Lanús played the 1950 season in the second division. With still 1 fixture to play, Lanús won the championship when the team defeated Argentinos Juniors by 3–1 therefore promoting to Primera División. In Primera B, Lanús played 22 matches with 15 wins and 3 losses. The team achieved large victories over El Porvenir (5–1), Colón (4–2), Temperley (4–1 and 4–0), Argentinos Juniors (4–0), Unión de Santa Fe (6–1) and Nueva Chicago (6–1). The line-up for the game that set up the return to Primera was: Alvarez Vega; Daponte, Mercado; Vargas, Strembel, Vivas; Contreras, Gil, Pairoux, Florio, Moyano. Former Boca Juniors coach Mario Fortunato led the team to the title.

"The Globetrotters"

Back in the top division, Lanús would be the sensation of 1951 championship, finishing the first round in the 1st place along with Independiente. Forward José Florio was the top scorer with 21 goals, having been sold to Italian club Torino for a record $ 1,500,000. The club later used the money to build a gym.